The present invention relates to a sealing device for rolling bearings.
It should be pointed out that the present invention will make specific referencexe2x80x94without, however, losing any generality in any wayxe2x80x94to a sealing device for a rolling bearing which is provided with an encoder wheel which is installed on an inner race of the rolling bearing itself, and is mounted on a cylindrical element which presents a blocking heading, which is arranged under the inner race and which is suitable for being arranged in direct contact with a shoulder of a motor shaft or of a joint.
In general, sealing devices of a well-known type comprise: a substantially rigid support which is coupled to the inner race of the rolling bearing, a static sealing lip which extends axially from the support beyond the blocking heading and which extends radially towards the inside in order to be compressed between the blocking heading and the shoulder, and an additional sealing element which is suitable for being mounted adjacent to the encoder wheel in order to protect the encoder wheel itself and in order to increase the insulating properties of the inside of the rolling bearing.
Sealing devices of the type described above present certain disadvantages, among which the following may be cited: the uncontrolled deformation of the lip when it is squeezed between the blocking heading and the shoulder, which causes a reduction in the sealing capacity of the lip itself; the slight protection which is afforded to the encoder wheel is compromised even further by the overall dimensions of the device; the relatively high number of components, which makes production costs quite high and which also complicates the assembly of the devices themselves.
The aim of the present invention is to produce a sealing device for rolling bearings which will resolve the above-described disadvantages in a simple and cost-effective fashion.
According to the present invention, a sealing device for a rolling bearing will be produced comprising an inner race which is axially blocked by a blocking element which is suitable for being arranged in direct contact with a feedback element, the sealing device comprises an encoder wheel which is installed on the inner race, a support element, which is mounted on the inner race and a static sealing element which is associated with the support element; the sealing device is characterised by the fact that the encoder wheel and the static sealing element are integral parts of the support element, and the static sealing element is frontally arranged in relation to the blocking element and comprises two lips which are substantially parallel in relation to each other and which extend opposite the support element, a first lip of the two lips extends towards the feedback element and comes into contact with it, and a second lip of the two lips extends towards a frontal surface of the inner race and comes into contact with it.
The present invention will now be described with reference to the attached drawing, which show an axial section, with some parts removed for reasons of clarity, of a preferred form of embodiment which is provided as an example of a non-limiting embodiment of the present invention.